« Multiple Inking Styles over Dell'Otto tonal pencils of Spider-Man »

I found this tonal pencil drawing of Spider-man by Gabriele Dell’otto along with seven variations of inking styles by:

• Andy Brase;
• Tony DeZuniga;
• Craig Hamilton;
• Geof Isherwood;
• Terry Moore;
• Josef Rubinstein; and
• Atula Siriwardane.

Awesome example of how comic book inkers are not “tracers” but true artists bringing their own unique style to the creative process.

Original Tonal Pencils by Gabriele Dell’ottoInks by Andy Brase

Inks by Tony DezunigaInks by Craig HamiltonInks by Geof IsherwoodInks by Terry MooreInks by Josef RubinsteinInks by Atula Siriwardane

Update on Thursday, April 8, 2010 by Kris Black

I decided to color Geof Isherwoods inks. I used Corel Painter 11 and my Wacom Intuos 3 6 x 11 tablet. I experimented with a warm light coming from the left and a cooler backlight from the lower right. I’m pleased with my first attempted at coloring a comic book illustration.

Colors by Kris Black over Inks by Geof Isherwood

Comments

[Agent-X]

I agree that inkers are also artists in their own right.

I notice that Tony Dezuniga not only inked the art, but added to it.
He added the full leg shape on the left, changed position of the right leg, and also altered the position of the thumb on the right hand.
(the right knee now looks a little weird in my opinion)

Is it normal for inkers to alter the pencils?
I would understand if the penciller were pretty upset about it, to be honest.

[Kris Black]

Hi there,

Thanks for commenting. I appreciate you taking the time to do so.

I think an inker and penciler working together will have an understanding of each other's skills and decisions. They are a team, one needing the other. The inker may be expected to make changes or corrections like that depending on the circumstances of their workflow and locations.

Repositioning the leg and changing the thumb doesn't change the composition or layout. So I don't think a penciler would mind. Besides, a polite inker would contact the penciler about this and let him know what he thinks something looks odd or could be drawn differently to better serve the story.

I think the leg reposition by Tony Dezuniga looks more realistic than having Spidey with his legs spread apart. The weight distribution seems more correct. For the thumb however, I think that looks a little odd and prefer the thumb in all the other pieces of art.